California Ag Network

Tag: WHIP+

  • Wine Industry Affected by Wildfires Seeks Extension of Disaster Payment Program

    With growers and winemakers facing unprecedented losses from the devastating West Coast wildfires, leaders of 10 wine industry groups are seeking help from Congress to obtain immediate disaster relief.

    Specifically, they are requesting an extension of the Wildfire and Hurricane Indemnity Program Plus (WHIP+) to cover 2020 wildfire-related losses. Administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, WHIP+ provides disaster payments to producers to offset losses from wildfires, hurricanes and other qualifying natural disasters. In 2019, California growers received WHIP+ payments for 2018 covered crop losses due to wildfires, as well as quality losses due to smoke exposure.

    “Farmers are resilient and they accept the many risks inherent to agriculture, but 2020 has produced more challenges than any could have ever anticipated. It’s absolutely essential that Congress extends disaster assistance to California winegrape growers,” said California Association of Winegrape Growers (CAWG) President John Aguirre.

    A jointly signed letter was recently to Congressional leaders by the 10 organizations, including CAWG, California Farm Bureau Federation, Oregon Wine Board, Oregon Winegrowers Association, Oregon Farm Bureau, Washington Winegrowers, Washington Farm Bureau, WineAmerica, Wine Institute and Winegrape Growers of America.

    Additional information:

    >Letter to Congress from organizations

    >USDA WHIP+ webpage

  • Winegrape Growers Affected by Wildfires Can Apply for Assistance Through WHIP+

    U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue this week announced thatgrowers who suffered crop losses due to natural disasters in 2018 or 2019 can apply for assistance through theWildfire and Hurricane Indemnity Program Plus (WHIP+). Winegrape growers who suffered losses due to smokeexposure events in 2018 are eligible.

    The California Association of Winegrape Growers (CAWG) worked with members of the Californiacongressional delegation to ensure winegrapes are covered by WHIP+. CAWG President John Aguirrecommended the actions of key members of the California congressional delegation. “The efforts of Sen. DianneFeinstein and Reps. Mike Thompson and Jim Costa were critical in ensuring California’s winegrape growersaffected by wildfires would qualify for assistance under WHIP+.”

    USDA is now accepting claims for WHIP+ assistance. USDA recommends growers contact their local FarmService Agency (FSA) county office to schedule an appointment. Growers in all California counties are eligiblefor assistance under WHIP+ for wildfire-related losses, provided their county received a Presidential EmergencyDisaster Declaration or Secretarial Disaster Designation or their FSA county committee approves a loss claimdue to a qualifying disaster event in 2018 or 2019.

    Winegrapes are the only commodity under WHIP+ eligible for payments due to quality losses. Growers canreceive WHIP+ payments for unharvested grapes resulting from wineries that rejected smoke exposed fruit,provided growers can document the fruit had elevated levels of smoke compounds. In addition, WHIP+ willcover quality losses attributable to smoke where the affected grapes had a value of less than 75 percent of theaverage market price of undamaged grapes of the same or similar variety. In this instance, growers must submitverifiable documentation that a reduced price resulted from smoke exposure.

    “WHIP+ represents a substantial improvement over the 2017 version of WHIP in that it covers quality losses,”Aguirre said. There are a variety of scenarios where the value of a grower’s crop may have been discounteddue to smoke exposure related quality issues, either at the time of sale or subsequent to being processed intowine. CAWG is reviewing the just released details of WHIP+ to determine how the program applies to thesedifferent scenarios.